Democrats Consider New Job Set-Asides: Convicted Felons

Davis said agencies should work with federally and locally funded rehabilitation programs to hire recently released felons as a way to help them reintegrate into society and reduce recidivism. Justice Department statistics show more than 50 percent of convicted felons offend again. Davis thinks giving some of them government jobs could reduce that number. “We are contradictory in our practices,” he said. “We talk redemption, but the way we treat individuals does not show that we believe in providing redemption.” To make such a program work, Congress would need to direct agencies to cordon off a certain number of nonsensitive jobs – such as mail room, janitorial or maintenance work – for ex-offenders, he said. Such a program would likely start off as a pilot program… Davis said his legislation would likely not bar felons from working at agencies with sensitive missions, such as the CIA, but would rather bar them from specific jobs. “You can cut the grass at the CIA without needing a clearance, you can clean windows,” he said. “It’s more the categories of jobs that they should probably not be allowed to do.”